When the California Dogface butterfly was officially made the California state insect by then governor Ronald Reagan in 1972, the children who pushed to make that happen were delighted. At the time, the Dogface butterfly was a common sight in Southern California. Today, this beautiful butterfly can be hard to find, but thanks to Placer Land Trust, they have been found in Auburn, California. 

In this episode of Critter Chat hosts and producers Susan Brandt and Marney Blair take a tour with Christy Claes of Placer Land Trust (PLT) to see these stunning beauties and learn all about them with Dogface butterfly expert Greg Kareofelas, an associate of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They also talk with Deren Ross, volunteer and naturalist with PLT who helped discover the Dogface butterfly in this area. 

Upon entering this protected land in Auburn near the Bear River, Susan and Marney share with listeners the experience of seeing many Dogface butterflies emerge in the late morning sun around a rare patch of Amorpha Californica Californica the Dogface butterfly’s host plant, a shrub in the legume plant family and essential to its existence.

School teachers are encouraged to use Critter Chat for their students with teaching notes that include vocabulary words and concepts like a “host plant” and “hilltopping.”

Critter Chat is written and produced by Marney Blair and Susan Brandt with support from KVMR, Wild Birds Unlimited and Rational Animal. Each episode features one species of the many critters that live in the Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains. Critter Chat was awarded the 2024 Jody Fenimore Excellence in Public Affairs and Community Service Programming by KVMR.

Image credit: male Dogface butterfly © Greg Kareofelas, Bohart Museum of Entomology

See critterchat.org for more information.